Payn's Ponderings... Top 10 Essential Albums

[payn]

Alice In Chains definitely started as a glam metal band, as did Pantera, which they've admitted, but Soundgarden was never glam or hair metal. The song Big Dumb Sex was making fun of how vapid that whole scene was.

Guess we will have to disagree on this one. Soundgarden was hair metal as Sh when they got started. A pinch of psychedelic made them stand out but its all there in the beginning.

 

[R_J_K75]

Guess we will have to disagree on this one. Soundgarden was hair metal as Sh when they got started. A pinch of psychedelic made them stand out but its all there in the beginning.

I dont hear the connection. Just of curiosity, which song or songs would you consider from Deep Six (1986) and Screaming Life (1987) their fist 2 releases resemble glam/hair metal?

 

[payn]

I dont hear the connection. Just of curiosity, which song or songs would you consider from Deep Six (1986) and Screaming Life (1987) their fist 2 releases resemble glam/hair metal?

All of them? I mean there is a hint of psychedelic, which was unique at the time, but sounds very hair metal to me. SG actually starts sounding very prog metal in Badmotorfinger and beyond. They had a real unique blend of style and sound, but the hair metal is there. Are they the first band I think of when hair metal comes up? No, they are not, but I can hear the roots clearly.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Soundgarden was hair metal as Sh when they got started.

What?

Soundgarden’s early stuff sounded nothing like Poison, Mötley Crüe, Kix, Slaughter, VVI, etc. They were the antithesis of hair metal. Thayil’s playing had far more in common with Iommi than Sixx, Beach or any of those dudes.

They didn’t even look the part.

The closest to hair metal among the new Seattle bands back then was probably Mother Love Bone, and that’s mostly because of the vocalist.

 

[CleverNickName]

The closest to hair metal among the new Seattle bands back then was probably Mother Love Bone, and that’s mostly because of the vocalist.

Are you suggesting that Pearl Jam has hair metal roots?

 

[R_J_K75]

What?

Soundgarden’s early stuff sounded nothing like Poison, Mötley Crüe, Kix, Slaughter, VVI, etc. They were the antithesis of hair metal. Thayil’s playing had far more in common with Iommi than Sixx, Beach or any of those dudes.

They didn’t even look the part.

I'd say the only comparison that could be made would be Cornells vocals, but even that's a stretch. There was nothing formulaic to there sound. Some of Thayils solos are off kilter, almost discordant at times. Their time signatures are far from your standard 4/4, to the point I remember I reading an article that they said they never paid attention to them they just wrote what they felt like. Their use of dropped and alternate tunings and the keys they played in just shows that they were trying to remove themselves from the sound that was popular then, hair metal, and new wave.

 

[payn]

Are you suggesting that Pearl Jam has hair metal roots?

I've heard this asked before.

 

[R_J_K75]

Are you suggesting that Pearl Jam has hair metal roots?

Absolutely

 

[payn]

I'd say the only comparison that could be made would be Cornells vocals, but even that's a stretch. There was nothing formulaic to there sound. Some of Thayils solos are off kilter, almost discordant at times. Their time signatures are far from your standard 4/4, to the point I remember I reading an article that they said they never paid attention to them they just wrote what they felt like. Their use of dropped and alternate tunings and the keys they played in just shows that they were trying to remove themselves from the sound that was popular then, hair metal, and new wave.

I do think they were pioneers in this respect. I mean, if you sit somebody down and ask them, "what genre Soundgarden is?", most people will say grundge. I dont really agree with it because their sound (on every album) is so multifaceted. It's pretty unique and a bit difficult to pin down at the same time.

 

[payn]

What?

Soundgarden’s early stuff sounded nothing like Poison, Mötley Crüe, Kix, Slaughter, VVI, etc. They were the antithesis of hair metal. Thayil’s playing had far more in common with Iommi than Sixx, Beach or any of those dudes.

They didn’t even look the part.

The closest to hair metal among the new Seattle bands back then was probably Mother Love Bone, and that’s mostly because of the vocalist.

If you cant hear the missing links, you cant hear them.